Individual therapy can take many forms
depending on your individual needs and personality. In
general, my approach to
therapy is a very holistic form of psychodynamic therapy. In therapy, we will
discuss your current struggles and also explore how they are related to other parts of your life.
Through exploring your current situation, your thoughts, emotions,
relationships, dreams,
fantasy, etc., we will find patterns and themes and then figure
out ways to either cope with or break free from those patterns.

The
therapy will address general concerns and specific struggles you may have such as
excessive worry, anxiety, depressed mood, obsessive
behaviors, substance use, self-harm, repetitive relationship
problems, etc. We will build a strong therapeutic relationship
and discuss ways to work through your
struggles. Although the primary agent of change is the
therapeutic relationship, other strategies might also be used. The
specific interventions vary depending on the need and the
personality of each individual person.

In addition to the current struggles and visible "symptoms", I
assume that most struggles are part of an unconscious process that
is largely outside of one’s own awareness. Psychotherapy helps
a person understand many of these unconscious and conscious factors
and work through them in various ways. For adults, this is
primarily done through verbalizing one's thoughts and feelings with
the therapist (talk-therapy). For children, this frequently
involves play, talk, art, role-play, etc. I am especially tuned-in to pick up on the many verbal and non-verbal
communications that the individual does not even realize they are
“saying”.

Overall, the goals of this holistic psychodynamic psychotherapy are to help you
through any current struggles, and bring about significant
long-lasting changes that positively benefit your present/future and
help you be the most complete and thriving person you can be.
This therapy requires a strong relationship between the patient and
the therapist and frequently requires a significant amount of time. In addition
to the long-term therapy described above, I also conduct short-term therapy
which can be a very useful part of managing a crisis situation or
going through a specific life transition. For effective therapy, I
recommend that patients/clients meet with me once per week if possible. Many patients find even greater benefit meeting
2 or 3 times per week.

As above, my work with children and adolescents is strongly oriented
in psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theory. In addition to
individual therapy with the child (as described above), my approach is to
also develop a strong
relationship with parents/caretakers so that we
are working together as a team. This helps me get to know
other aspects of the child's life (such as early childhood experiences that
the child does not remember) and help address concerns that the
caregivers have (family conflicts, parenting difficulties, worries
about the child). Most parents who have
children in need of therapeutic help have tried long and hard to
help their children themselves before seeking outside help. Although
parents usually are able to “tune in” to their children better than
anyone else, everyone comes to parenthood accompanied by the
“ghosts” of their own childhood experiences. I am sometimes able to
help parents to see their children in a new light; this can be a
huge relief to parents as well as to their children and it certainly
helps the therapy work as well. We will need to meet periodically,
especially in the beginning, without your child present to discuss
all of this. I will always listen carefully to caretakers' comments,
brainstorm, and guide as much as possible. However, with older
children and teens, I will keep
much of the specific content of the child-therapist interactions
private. I will certainly discuss if I feel a child is in
imminent danger, but I want children/teens to know that they can
share information with me in confidence. If there is something that
I feel the parent/caretaker should know, I will talk with the child about
ways that he/she can discuss it with his/her parents and/or ask
their permission for me to discuss it with them.

Romantic relationships are an important part of life for most
people. Sometimes, however, these relationships can increase
stress and be major sources of conflict. Relationship therapy
(or couples therapy) can help the members of a relationship
anticipate such challenges and learn how they can work with their
partners to resolve conflicts in ways that help the relationship and
each individual continue growing and developing. Relationship
therapy is a very healthy way to work through common relationship
challenges (e.g. communication problems, sexual concerns, financial anxiety, parenting
differences). It is also especially useful in anticipation of
major life events (marriage, birth of a child, retirement, empty
nest, relocation) or in
response to significant crisis (infertility, death of a family
member, or infidelity). I work with couples in a way that
helps each person develop deeper understandings of themselves and
their partner's personality and history. We also practice ways
of communicating that address the problematic issues in ways that
are respectful and productive. By doing this, we
explore how the different personalities interact and discover ways
to cope with life's challenges so that the personalities of each
person can work together rather than collide. As with
individual therapy, consistent therapy sessions are vital to the
therapeutic process. It is recommended that couples plan on
meeting weekly if possible.

The vast majority of the therapy I provide is in person in my office.
However, I am also happy to provide telephone and Skype therapy if
needed after we have established a sufficient in-person therapeutic
relationship. This is particularly helpful for people who live
far away from my office or travel frequently. These
technologies allow us to keep the consistency of the therapy amidst
the logistical challenges of life.
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Appointments
Please call or email me to schedule an appointment for therapy
(individual, couple, or group).